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June 22, 2009

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ROBIN WRIGHT, VETERAN DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, tells Playbook that the White House is preparing to announce that Ambassador Dennis Ross' NSC portfolio will be Iraq. Robin hears grumbling that the change will leave 'two ingenues in charge of a country with the largest U.S. military and diplomatic presence in the world. Senior U.S. officials say that Iraq is far from stable and will continue to need to draw on U.S. expertise to prevent deterioration in the still fragile political or security situations. The U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Christopher R. Hill, is also a newcomer. ... Among those reportedly unhappy about the shake-up is former Senator George Mitchell, the high-powered special envoy in charge of Middle East peace efforts, who had a direct line to President Obama. Mitchell now finds himself working alongside Ross, who spent 12 years in charge of largely unsuccessful U.S. peace efforts on the Arab-Israeli conflict under President Clinton and President George H.W. Bush.'

What remains a bit opaque here -- and will likely shake out in practice -- is the actual breadth of Ross's portfolio, now that he's physically in the White House, and how much say he actually has over the Middle East and Iran.

Obama needs to remember, no matter how much he panders to Israeli lobby (Dennis Ross), they'll still insist his support for Israel is not enough, and they'll keep working against his presidency. Time to get tough on Israel and call spade a spade.

They must have offered him a BIG salary, Iraq is such a mess and will never be a Democracy thanks to the invasion by President Bush. We have spent over $1 TRILLION in Iraq and we have a EMBASSY 2 BLOCKS LONG! The neocons are *****ing because President Obama is spending what is necessary to get this economy back on its feet again AND the Republicans complain complain & complain. We can spend $$$$$ in the Trillions in Iraq, we can SEND MILLIONS to Pakistan, Israel, Africa, South Korea, BUT oh NO! don't spend here in America to fix the messes that Bush left behind. The Republican teabag party--still doesn't get it. Maybe in 2017 they will!.

Ross is a creepy figure. Screwed up Israel/Palestine in big f**king way (unless he really is an Israeli spy), and now they're giving him Iraq? Why not, say, Bahrain? Don't we need somebody on the Bahrain desk? Alternatively, wouldn't it be a shot in the arm for Vanuatu if they got such a high-profile glamour guy?

There is always a problem with having "the Middle East diplomatic trouble-shooter" clashing with the Asst. Sec. of State who has jurisdiction for the Middle East and was confirmed by the Senate. It is like looking at a management chart and one box is connected to another by a straight line and a dotted line.

This is very hard to read. It's almost certain that Dennis Ross' ego was bruised and battered in the State Department, where he must have been clashing with Clinton and Holbrooke like there's no tomorrow. So moving Ross to the White House means . . . what exactly? Appeasing the AIPACkers as the friction between Israel and the US heats up? Is it to move Dennis away from Iran and to the trillion-dollar black hole we know as Iraq? I think it's bad for Dennis and he'll be tendering his resignation and writing a tell-all within six months.